Wednesday, July 24, 2013

On Saturday, we went to our son's business launch party. It was held at Penguilley's Saloon in downtown Boise, ID.

It was awesome to see our son's and his girlfriend's dreams being realized.

Here is a shot of one of Old Salt's men's t-shirts. The original artwork up for raffle and limited edition prints.

Here is a shot of the jewelry Old Salt produces. This is all handmade. The designs are my son's work. The findings for the jewelry are made in Boise and Andrea does all the epoxy work to set the designs into the jewelry.

Friday, July 19, 2013

We live in the country, so this happens all the time. Rick went up to shut down the irrigation water and heard the cries of a small kitten. He went to investigate and came home with a Tortoise Shell kitten.

She joined our brood of outside cats. She was constantly under our feet when we were outside. And she was such a sweetheart. But, we were not in the market for an inside cat.

I came home from my first day of school in September of last year to find her still being a sweetheart, but with her insides outside of her body. Something had gotten hold of her and hurt her. I called Rick in a panic, and he said to take her to our vet. I was expecting the vet to tell me that she would have to be put down. He said he could save her!

She has been an inside cat ever since. We have had her a year, which is hard to believe. She stands up for herself with our 3 inside dogs. As far as she and the dogs are in concerned, she is in charge.

She still resembles that little kitten, only she is huge. I took her to get her shots in March and she had gained 9 pounds from the time we had found her, and she hasn't gotten any smaller since then.

She believes everything in the house is hers.

Last night she decided to burrow in my laptop bag.﻿

Rick is responsible for her name. PITA is an acronym. Her full name is Pain In The A**. He called her that because she cried non-stop for weeks after he found her, and if he stood still, she would climb his body.

She is one of the many animal loves of my life. I can't imagine life without her.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

On Saturday, July 6th, we took a train ride from Horseshoe Bend to Banks, Idaho. We rode on the Thunder Mountain Line train with our son Jake, his wife Becky, Becky's mom, Jake and Becky's friends and their parents, and our three youngest grandchildren. The train ride took 3 1/2 hours, and it included a melodrama and dinner. We had so much fun! It was the first time I had ever ridden on a train. And thanks to Becky's mom and dad, our granddaughter, Sophie, got to go with us!

Here are photos of Sophie with both Rick and I

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Here is Lilly showing that she didn't want to have her picture taken

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Lilly and Sophie

Our grandson Jackson (in the cowboy hat) and his best friend Hayden

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Lilly and Hayden's little sister, Taylynn

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Sophie enjoying the views﻿

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Some of the scenery next to the tracks﻿

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Once we got to the end of the line in Banks, Idaho and had our dinner, we panned for gem stones in the sluice. For $7.00, you got a bad of semi-precious stones mixed with sand and the kids were able to pan for their own treasures. All three loved this! Here is Jackson and our son Jake.﻿

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Sophie, panning for her gems

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Lilly, helping Sophie

Here are Lilly and Jackson playing Woody and Jesse

Sophie as Jesse﻿

On the ride home, we sat in the outside, uncovered car. We got to see lots of wonderful scenery, cows, horses and Sophie even spotted a deer. This is one of my favorite photos. Jackson wanted grandpa to wear his cowboy hat like he did. ﻿

This is the Payette River. The railroad tracks run right along it. People raft this river. All along the route, the rafters waved at us. Next summer, we plan on doing the Ride and Raft package, where you ride the train up and raft the river back down. I can't wait!﻿

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Here is an eagle nest that Rick and Sophie spotted on a telephone pole﻿

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Here is the view of the train coming around the bend on its way back to Horseshoe Bend from Banks

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Pulling into the train yard at Horseshoe Bend﻿

This was a really awesome experience that I hope we get to repeat with more of our children and our grandchildren in the years to come! If you are ever in Idaho, in the Treasure Valley, you ought to look into this tour. The ride is amazing, and the staff and actors on the train are awesome.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

I have decided to quit neglecting my blog! It has been a really long time, almost 2 years. I am going to start by sharing some photos that I took on the 4th of July. We always start off the holiday by attending the 4th of July parade in a little town about 15 minutes away from us.

This is our granddaughters, Sophie and Lilly

This is our grandson, Jackson showing off his patriotism

Later in the day, we head to our local college campus and set up a bbq party for friends and family. This year there was a pretty large thunderstorm that passed through and we were afraid that we would not get to see the fireworks. Thankfully, the storm died down just in time for the fireworks to go off.

The storm made for a pretty impressive sunset

And I even caught the double rainbow in the sunset!﻿

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My daughter, Hannah, and my granddaughter, Sophie, entertained themselves by being superheroes in the wind.

The grandkids had just enough time to make and eat one s'more before the storm hit

Who I Am

I am a wife, a mother of 5, grandmother of 4, we are expecting our 5th grandchild in October 2013. We already know that we are having a granddaughter and her name will be Isabel. I am a mother-in-law to a really awesome young woman. I am a mother-in-law to 2 awesome young men. My two youngest are both happy with the loves of their lives right now. I am the mother of children obsessed with tattoos. Four of my five children have multiple tattoos. I am the mother of children that love fire. All five are fascinated by it. My youngest "firehoops". My two youngest children love and participate in Burning Man.
I have rheumatoid arthritis, and I work at not letting it define who I am. I am an animal lover. We currently have a 3-legged pygmy goat, numerous outside cats, 4 dogs as well as 2 inside cats. I am obsessed with many things: crafting blogs, music, quilting, crocheting, tatting, scrapbooking, taking photos, Facebook, Pinterest, the Green Bay Packers, NASCAR, the Utah Jazz, the New York Yankees, collecting vintage Christmas ornamnets, collecting vintage pyrex dishes, yard sales, thrifting, and riding our new motorcycle!